These days it’s not just your resume that’s reviewed for your credentials and experience. LinkedIn is now a critical part of your job search as the majority of employers will look for you there.
Your LinkedIn profile is also an important tool and an important part of your job search strategy. Your LinkedIn profile may be promoted on the signature of your email address, your website, your blog, and business cards. It should also be added to your resume as an additional resource employers can go to in order to scope out your experience, knowledge, skills, and connections.
6 Steps To Personalizing Your LinkedIn URL
One of the most important things you can do for job search success is personalize your LinkedIn URL. By default, when you set up your profile on LinkedIn, you are given a URL for your public profile that may look like this:
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/firstname-lastname/23654
This URL above is a temporary LinkedIn ID. A temporary LinkedIn ID typically has /pub/ and numbers that follow it. Personalize your LinkedIn URL to something that is more memorable.
For instance:
www.linkedin.com/in/don-goodman-job-expert/
Changing your default public profile URL to a personalized one is simple and takes only a few clicks of a button.
Here are the easy steps you can take to personalize your LinkedIn URL:
- Sign in to LinkedIn and click "View Profile."
- Click the edit icon to edit your intro.
- Scroll down to the contact info section. Click on "Edit contact info" and then click on your profile URL. You'll be redirected to the settings page where you can change your public profile.
- Click the edit icon next to your public profile URL (under "Edit your custom URL").
- In the text box, edit the last part of your public URL.
- Click "Save."
You now have a personalized LinkedIn URL that can be used to further promote your experience, knowledge, and skills for job opportunities!
Your new personalized LinkedIn URL should be your name or some variant related to your profession or field of work. If you have a common name, then try to add something that defines you. In my case, there are a number of Don Goodmans so I use "don-goodman-job-expert."
Keep in mind when creating your personalized LinkedIn URL to make it something timeless. You know using your name is a safe bet and you likely won’t have to make changes to it in the future. While you are allowed to change your URL at any time, LinkedIn will not redirect anyone clicking on an old URL you have created previously.
Creating a personalized LinkedIn URL allows you to enhance your personal brand. It is particularly helpful to use on your resume. Resumes have limitations on the type and depth of information you can offer, so when you can include your LinkedIn URL, employers have the opportunity to learn much more about you through recommendations received, skills and expertise, endorsements, and other information that’s available on your LinkedIn profile!
Need more help optimizing your LinkedIn profile?
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
